Five WTA events this season, with three semifinal runs and two quarterfinal appearances, but zero titles won. Former World No.1 Iga Swiatek’s journey in 2025 has been nothing less than a rollercoaster. It’s not that she’s played badly by any means. But why has she not been able to turn those deep runs into trophy-lifting moments? A player who had six successive title runs not so long ago in 2022 – sweeping the Qatar Open, Indian Wells, Miami Open, Stuttgart Open, Italian Open, and French Open – is struggling to clinch even one trophy three years down the road. Former WTA pro Andrea Petkovic has now shed light on the tricky situation of the five-time Slam champion.
During an episode of Rennae Stubbs’ podcast, dated March 31, Petkovic tried to highlight Swiatek’s problem with an interesting example. “If at a grand slam tournament, you play a Serena Williams, you happen to be drawn against Serena Williams, right? There will always be one person in the locker room who will say, ‘Well, better to get her in the first round,” the German said.
Continuing further, she added, “At some point in your life, you will be like, it’s true, it is better to play her in the first round than in the quarters, because that’s when she will excel, be full of confidence, and your chances are even lower.”
But it’s completely opposite in the case of Swiatek. How? Petkovic revealed, “Iga’s trajectory is that she is winning the first round matches. She is getting, at times, really easily through the first round matches.” But just when it seems that she’s fully confident to enter the finals and eventually win, that’s exactly where “she falters.”
Recapping Swiatek’s inability to make to tournament finals in 2025, Petkovic added, “To be fair, I looked up the people she’s lost to this year, and it’s all people that you can lose to. She lost to Keys with a match point in the Australian Open.”
Back in January, Keys stunned the five-time Slam winner in the AO semifinal. Despite playing her best tennis, Swiatek couldn’t hold her nerves in the tie-break during the decider. She then “lost to Ostapenko in Doha, a player she’s never beaten. It’s clearly her fear.” So far, the Latvian player has a 5-0 h2h record against the Pole. Per Petkovic, Swiatek “just panics when she sees her (Ostapenko).”
“Then she loses to Andreeva in Dubai. At that time, it was shocking.” For the unversed, Mirra Andreeva ousted the former World No.1 in Dubai in the last eight battle, in straight sets, before eventually lifting the trophy. She was the youngest WTA 1000 finalist since 2009 to accomplish the milestone.
But looking back at the Russian’s performance against Swiatek, Petkovic said it wasn’t really shocking “because Andreeva ended up winning Dubai and Indian Wells back to back. Ended up being probably the best player of that stretch. And then she (Iga) loses again to Andreeva in Indian Wells.” In the semifinal face-off at the BNP Paribas Open, Swiatek forced the result into a decider. Still, Andreeva outshined her with a score line of 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-3.
Lately, Swiatek lost to a player outside of the top 100, only for the third time in her career. In the Miami Open QF last week, Philippines’ 19-year-old Alexandra Eala stunned her in straight sets. “So the player she’s lost now, that’s what’s unnerving for her probably,” said Petkovic. She also emphasized that Eala “was an absolute gem at this tournament in Miami.” The teenager managed to earn a big boost in the rankings following her semifinal run in Miami. From being World No.140, she’s now sitting at the 75th spot. She’s the first-ever Filipino to be ranked in the top 100.
Even Swiatek herself admitted her inability to beat Eala after the crushing defeat. According to her, there was an element that played a key role in her exit from Miami. But what was it?
Iga Swiatek on what may have worked for Alexandra Eala in snatching the win against her
During the post-match conference, dated March 26, Iga Swiatek explained what she thought could be the reason behind her loss. Was it the fact that her opponent was a lefty? “I mean, her being a lefty didn’t surprise me, but for sure, like, she went all in. She made these returns in and pretty long time, and so it wasn’t easy to hit it back. She was pretty loosened up and just went for it. Yeah, I mean, she felt the nice rhythm and it helped her.”
Swiatek looked clueless against Alexandra Eala. “I didn’t know she was going to play that flat, but besides that, well, she was really aggressive, you know, and she kept her focus. And, like, I don’t know, some of these shots were pretty like out of nowhere,” she remarked. The Pole further expressed her admiration for the teenage sensation, saying, “I could see clearly she has intentions to go forward and to push. So it worked for her today, for sure.”
Prior to Swiatek, Eala also managed to beat two other former Slam winners. In the second round, she ousted 2017 Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko. And then she edged out 2025 Australian Open queen Madison Keys in the third round. After conquering Swiatek, the 19-year-old was in “complete disbelief” while feeling “on cloud nine”
Eala said, “It’s so surreal. I’m so happy and so blessed to be able to compete with such a player on this stage … My coach told me to run, to go for every ball, to take all the opportunities I can, because a five-time Slam champion is not going to give you the win.”
Coming back to Iga Swiatek‘s misery in 2025, she’s got a singles record of 17-5 so far. But she can still make a solid return. Especially at the French Open, where she always shines as an invincible clay queen. Having already won it thrice in the last three appearances (2022, 2023, and 2024), she will look to get back to winning ways next month. Do you think the Pole can really bounce back with a winning campaign at the Roland Garros? Let us know in the comments below.
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